all. be sure to tell it to. his. hotel.

to. post a photo. through the photo. possibly. also. flocks of birds across the globe it's a media frenzy. the.

critics argue. blame for the growth of islamic extremism across europe following several recently for. immigrants seeking a better life in the. land of opportunity. and direct from the heart of moscow this is our team i'm sean thomas let's take a look at our top headlines two ice breakers are forcing their way through meters thick ice to rescue the vessels which have been trapped for almost two weeks in russia's far east artie's itself earth has the details. the smart one john they're continuing to play out today and you've really got

a feel for the full days remaining t. shirts the eleventh day now hopefully the end possibly now in sight as the ice breaker crosses in. that position not just to recap what's been happening even the possibly we saw these three original ships call in for rescue in december thirtieth that at the beginning of this week another two ships got stuck in the ice we've seen two ice breakers the admiral macros and the guys and working very hard in extremely tough conditions to free up these ships like now managed to get three of them to safety the last of which was the science research vessel that they freed up on friday and since then the other icebreakers been working a for the weekend to try and free up the remaining two but in incredibly tough conditions and they've not been able to do and they're in there now waiting for the icebreaker crossing which is nearing that position we've heard some reports saying that it's probably the earliest i'll actually get them for you done piccies day but

they are working evenings extremely tough conditions as ice breakers have really had their work cut out for the we've had go full sweyn such a ninety kilometers an hour the incredibly thick ice and cool visibility you know it's a from the constant one of the stranded ships that the rescue operation to try make of it coming to an end it's really very dependent on whether these conditions eased up or indeed was. everything depends on the weather when the wind comes down the rescue operation you know. right now the cross an icebreaker is on its you have enough water to last two to four months so there's across to me the combined that that will be able to break up the ice as he said the crew on board the ships have been in contact they've got plenty of food and water supplies on board so they've not been in any particular danger but it's certainly been a low rescue operation and it's the end now is in sight. as of a mass animal deaths across the globe has scientists and conspiracy theorists

buzzing over possible explanations dubbed the a flock of lips it started in the us on new year's eve when black birds started falling from the sky more bird tragedy followed in sweden and then again in italy and finally millions of dead fish from brazil to new zealand have triggered some fevered online speculation changing climate parasites and poisoning are the main theories scientists are working with but conspiracy theorists point to secret government. filmmaker and blogger danny schechter says media hype is taking the focus away from the real scientific cost. when one set of incidents happens followed by another set followed by a third set suddenly it becomes a trend then it becomes a much bigger story in the media but it's still sort of a mystery it may be that each example is actually specific to a particular local set of circumstances we don't know they're calling it. you know

flock of birds coming up with new catchy words new ad lives and the like obviously it's it's something that intrigues audiences even if there isn't a lot of explanation it seems to be a pattern of this sort of thing where you have alarmist headlines followed by a few examples which then you know lead to sober conclusions about the dramatic events region then there's no follow up for so you know if we really never find out what really happened and this is the inattention of the media maybe even the amnesia of the media the refusal to speak to the people who are most in the know because all of this is sort of titillation for the public and yet it could be a very serious still to come in the program a waste of life. despite the u.s. pumping billions of dollars into regenerating iraq thousands still live below the

poverty line with some forced to scavenge trash to make ends meet. people don't live here anymore but same. about flora and. noble disasters. liberal immigration policies in some countries have come under fire for letting potential terrorists walk straight in through europe's front door and this comes after authorities foiled terror plots on some european capitals are. reports from austria . like many other small you would be and downs in southern austria seems quiet and peaceful while never judge a book by its cover one of its residents is now under arrest suspected of being the brains behind. them plotting attacks in the heart of the european union

an ethnic chechen was detained at the airport in vienna as he returned from a pilgrimage to mecca news about the incident went around the world streams really none of the locals seem to know much about it. we didn't hear anything about him. i'm afraid i wasn't for this. i know nothing about it and i don't care some didn't want to be filmed at all but was it really because of a lack of information. and the deputy chief of one of australia's biggest newspapers christopher has been personally following this case armed with only a voice recorder and no t.v. crew he was more successful in getting the locals to share. his with a really big population become unity with. so that people are sinking what what what comes next i mean this is just my neighbor he was here with me and i'm now has his arrest because of suspect. terror plot with his

wife and children really appear to be leading an ordinary life one of the most striking facts about this latest case is that the suspect. he claims he lost the after being caught up in while. investigators are looking into or no other version whether his hands off while handling explosives this is raising questions austrians or hell well asylum seekers are checked before getting the green light has one of the most liberal asylum policies in the european union and last year alone the country received. fifteen thousand refugees from across the world with such an inflow of newcomers is becoming increasingly cord to find out who is who we want to know from the government in how many cases they actually did this background checks to make sure that this people are not criminal or dangerous second in how many

cases austria has received. information from the countries of origin and and and search in how many cases. asylum seekers actually have been refused the latest arrest is part of a massive police operation targeting an alleged extremist network in late november twenty six people were detained in germany and the netherlands all suspected of recruiting so-called jihad is candidates and financing terrorist organizations it can be here in one year and it can be in any other town in in europe in an effort to get more information seekers the e.u. is now making deals with countries of origin including russia but many experts warn with hundreds of thousands of refugees already living in the union because of sequences of the policies of some of its member states still ahead.

vienna austria now let's take a brief look at some other major headlines from around the world. at least seventy people are reported dead in a plane crash in northwest iran is that some of the thirty survivors have been taken to hospital the boeing seven twenty seven domestic flight from tehran came down near its destination in the city of yeah and broke into pieces and it followed a number of deadly crashes in iran in recent years with almost two hundred killed in two separate incidents last july. she's a u.s. congresswoman is in critical condition after being shot in the head in a bloody rampage outside a supermarket in the state of arizona a gunman opened fire on a public meeting held by democrat gabrielle giffords killing six and injuring twelve others one of her aides was among the dead as well as a nine year old girl and a district judge a twenty two year old suspect is now in custody while authorities are looking for

a possible accomplice. the polls have closed in sudan after the first day of a weeklong referendum that could see one of africa's poorest and most troubled nations split into two christian dogma. david souter is expected to vote for independence from the mainly muslim north deadly clashes have been marred by the run up to the violence the vote is part of the two thousand and five peace deal which ended decades civil war that claimed two million lives and displaced nearly twice as many albums. rising temperatures have triggered flooding throughout germany as thawing snow and ice overwhelm river banks emergency services are working to build flood walls and divert water from affected areas to parks and unpopulated lowlands authorities and to supply more flooding as the warm spell continues while heavy rainfall is also forecast. thousands of immigrants head to the u.s. every year in search of a better way of life the u.s.

government attracts new comers through official visa lotteries granting them green cards but as lauren lease to reports for many people the quest for the american dream can turn out to be a grim reality. in the united states and here in new york every year countless people play the lottery. and touring for a chance to win for a mega million dollar fantasy believing a few dollars and a dream could buy them so for the life of a ticket that could change their lives every year more than ten million people also play a different kind of lottery and fifty thousand when meet one of them. and her husband teenage son and seven year old daughter you see here. are immigrants from nepal they entered and won the united states diversity visa lottery this lottery is a congressional mandate it's supposed to be an opportunity for people to come to

america from countries with historically low rates of immigration the jackpot with permanent residency the prizes not cash but green cards and this startling experience is do we have to start from scratch from zero once we got here two years of struggling with joblessness after finding their education in nepal doesn't count in the u.s. setbacks they never expected. we didn't know people used to say you're educated it will be easy america is a big country with a lot of facilities life will be better but in reality it would seem to fit in. yes to. experts who work on immigration issues a lottery winners really are given no resources from the government that invited them here and the struggles of jimena and her family are not unique for most people we have and counted it's been very difficult they reflect a group of immigrants who come to the u.s.

not because of a job lined up or a family sponsoring them but for many because of the vision of what they can achieve they really have that american dream of coming to the u.s. they know that they've invested in their education and they. i think that the united states is the place to put that skills those degrees and that ambition to work with the greatest possible return. when many find is maybe something milieu of an ethnic neighborhood like this one that has southeast asian music restaurants and fashion that many struggle with is finding economic opportunities that are any better than what they had in their home country or even finding jobs that allow them to survive here we're seeing a lot of downward mobility of immigrants and often very highly qualified and. finding foreign degrees an experience don't count for many u.s. employers these immigrants end up taking anything it means engineers and business

managers and up as cab drivers and cashiers according to a study two out of five ford educated immigrants are either in this situation or unemployed all together it's an american dream they want to wake up from if you got if we had known this we wouldn't have come life was much easier in my country people who see their plight first hand argue the government should help more i do think it's the state department's responsibility and i think that the united states is going to lose out relative to other countries taking that possibly losing out to countries such as canada and germany unless they make sure of winning the lottery actually pays off more and lister our new york and later this hour we'll be back on the streets of the big apple to find out what people very think about mark twain's classic novel huckleberry finn being edited to make it more politically correct. sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never harm so no name is ever been offensive to you because you know what you have to be emotionally disturbed to have any me.

when defending its record in the iraq war the us is quick to point out the tens of billions of dollars of spending on reconstruction but between rampant corruption and gross inefficiency poverty stricken iraqis say they see little sign of improvement to their daily lives it means many are forced to do whatever they can to scrape by as sebastian meyer reports. at seven am every morning fatima crouch is outside her house and along with her sister and cousins begins to sort through garbage displaced from southern iraq that most families too poor to send her to school and so she works eight hours a day sorting through baghdad's landfill collecting plastic and metal that will be shipped abroad for me so i can get a reward for carting forty pounds of trash around two dollars and fifty cents behind me six acres of back that's trash to many this is just waste but for the

families here this is not only their livelihood but also their homes over two thousand people live on baghdad's landfill. making their homes out of the garbage that the rest of the city throws away there's no running water or electricity and certainly no access to medical treatment if someone gets sick they have to be taken to hospital the same way they get drinking water by dunking tarts who can you believe it to be a rock you would live in to shock me from garbage through the chain so we could see if it's a rock it's still a wonderful place by god the old regime is gone and we have a new government but the situation much reliving in shocks america spending fifty three billion dollars on the reconstruction effort in iraq but the residents of jet haven't seen a dime of it what they have seen is the sectarian violence the drove them from their home five years ago. we used to live in abu ghraib you know then america came the war increased in iraq people started killing each other and so we fled because

we were freed in two thousand and five names family moved to the landfill and has been living there ever since too afraid and too poor to return home and not only are we going to be patient turned iraq into a battlefield as well as showing the seeds of political corruption how can americans stand back and watch without intervening is the situation everybody knows about the failure of the iraq economy this is having a terrible impact on the ground both socially and economically. experts worry about the children who grow up too poor to go to school without an education and they're easily preyed on by criminal gangs and terrorist organizations lure them with money and promises of a brighter future. how can i fulfill a dream when i leave in fear i can't accomplish anything nothing but security for everyone to go back to. there's no work we only need security that's correct remains a very dangerous place where kidnappings and murders are part of daily right for

the shia families living on a trash is still better than living with sunni neighbors back home. but until that is possible until american reconstruction dollars reached a quarter of a rexx population and lives in poverty children will continue to collect trash in order to survive sebastian meyer are in baghdad. the site of the world's biggest a civilian nuclear disaster at chernobyl has been largely a no go zone for almost twenty five years but now ukraine is planning to make use of the land there which is still fertile despite years of radiation by using it for agriculture the shock proposals have led to a clash between experts over the safety implications as artie's alexy reports these berries may look ripe and delicious but they're definitely not part of a healthy diet the bush is inside a thirty kilometer exclusion zone in ukraine and radiation levels are off the scale

people do not live here anymore but same cannot be said about flora and fauna some say it is the absence of anthropogenic harm in the church noble exclusion zone which made nature develop here rapidly. after the nine hundred eighty six fallout in the environment suffered badly one strip of forest was burned by radiation and turned red people left the area but mother nature stepped in. home to many species of wild animals and rare plants scientists from slovakia studying most in the area made an incredible discovery a lot of the plant life is immune to radiation. we still don't understand how it's possible plans to grow and. at the very beginning of the earth when life start to develop and. activity on

the surface. level up. somehow stay inside the plant how much problem and the millions of hectares of land were left contaminated a quarter of a sentry on kiev has decided that this soil no longer poses any threat to humans in march twentieth. will launch a plan to get things growing again. we will establish what parts of the contaminated areas could be used for agricultural needs there is a possibility of cultural pride. when we have so much unoccupied land why not use it for. those well familiar with chernobyl like the idea. after a million people work to clean this land of radioactivity now we're being told this is dead this is not true just look at nature's riches really exclusions if you are however there are those who are worried about what could end up on the dinner table

critics fear ukrainian and russian markets could be flooded with radioactive agricultural products and there are legal hurdles. ukraine has a law regulating in your temperatures in the exclusion zone it says no agricultural product can be drawn on this land and for now experts you know possibility of this law to be changed. the dominant view remains that the nearest save zones from the plant are still hundreds of kilometers away not in ukraine and some parts of belarus the dead zone and is still deemed too dangerous despite some optimists but the fact is radiation can stick around for anything up to twenty. for thousand years look see russia ski party reporting from chernobyl ukraine you can find that story at r.t. dot com tonight you may want to let us know what you think about that story it's just a few clicks away and it's all together on the balsa got this online for you as well

. it may look like a scene from a hollywood blockbuster but the training of russia's special forces is real and it takes blood sweat and years of experience to earn a spot snarls the right direction. and the cops on camera find out why u.s. law enforcement groups are trying to stop being filmed by the public after a number of scandals come to light the details are too dark not. for many palestinians in gaza every day is like a life under siege it's been denied aid supplies and access to the sea by israel for years strangling the life out of the local economy and with unemployment at forty percent many are forced to to grasp at anything they can to provide for their

families are reports. a group of girls a woman up breaking new ground literally. they've signed up to work as ditch diggers to help support their families that the work is very hard and life is even writing these women of the families. and with two out of three people unemployed in gaza the burden of responsibility on their shoulders is heavier and the shovels in the hands of the that my family has no one to take care of and we need money and that's why i'm forced to do. three hundred women have signed up their dig holes for water reservoirs on farms in gaza and the paid little more than fifteen dollars a day hard work for private construction game and better than my has an interest to provide for two families are seen people if i don't do this work and what will i be left with probably not very much which is often the fate of thousands of gazans

left disabled from israeli operations they too have no choice but to work in order to survive aid millard's did i have a family of twelve to feed and there is no other way for me to meet grooving besides using this route with a multitrack richer it is so i scream. they survived by selling cigarettes sweets and mobile phones madhu abu wider makes a living repairing watches look at them with god's help i found the love i prayed for a member of the non hamburg who have trouble finding a drop in gaza. at the end of december it was two years since the last israel gaza wall since then border controls in and out of gaza have been eased and more goods allow to pass through but many gazans complain it's done precious little to improve their lives in the next few months the number of trucks going into gaza is expected to reach four hundred four times what it was two years ago but gazans still cannot

cross into israel and their economy remains idle policia r.t. israel. american censors have taken the n word out of the new edition of the classic novel huckleberry finn critics of the move say the book is a work of art and a product of its time and therefore shouldn't be changed or find out what people in new york say about. a new edition of mark twain's huckleberry finn is being published this time without the n. word has political correctness gone too far this week let's talk about that do you think they should be editing it like that no you don't sound so it. doesn't sound the same no no but what if it was a word that was derogatory towards you and maybe what if it were a word that was offensive to you i would look at this of

a piece of art so some mark of deference no matter what it should stay has ever been of piece of art that has offended you absolutely. you know i think what about twenty years ago there was a work called piss christ by andre serrano. it was offensive but on the restaurant who had the right to create that work and i think it provokes some very good discussions as to what art can do and should do what if they wanted to add the bible to take out all the offensive parts. i'm against all kind of things that you should take out so i think everybody should have their own opinion and they should be able to say what they want yeah i think so what if it was offensive to you i don't listen. that's the way dutch people think they think it actually adds to the work yes i mean that's what the. term for the times was so.